Robert Norwood
by George Dance Canadian | ethnicity = | citizenship = U.S. | education = | alma_mater = | period = | genre = | subject = | movement = | notableworks = His Lady of the Sonnets | spouse = | partner = | children = | relatives = | influences = | influenced = | awards = | signature = | website = | portaldisp = }} Robert Winkworth Norwood (March 27, 1874 - September 28, 1932) was a Canadian poet and an Episcopalian (Anglican) minister."Biographical Information," Selected Poetry of Robert Winkworth Norwood (1874-1932), Representative Poetry Online, University of Toronto, UToronto.ca, Web, Dec. 10, 2011. Life Norwood was born in New Ross, Nova Scotia, the son of Edith Harding McKeen and Rev. Joseph W. Norwood. He was educated at Coaticook Academy and Bishop's College in Quebec, and at King's College in Nova Scotia. At King's he studied English under Charles G.D. Roberts, who encouraged him to write poetry. He graduated from King's College in 1897 and became a deacon, and was ordained a priest in 1898,John Garvin, "Robert Norwood," Canadian Poets, Toronto:McClelland, Goodchild, and Stewart, 1916), 331, UPenn.edu, Web, Dec. 10, 2011. Also in 1898 he published his first book of poetry, Driftwood, a chapbook cowritten with Charles Vernon, his roommate at King's.R. Alex Kizuk, "Robert (Winkworth) Norwood," Dictionary of Literary Biography, BookRags.com, Web, Dec. 24, 2011. Norwood became a priest in Cape Breton, where he married Ethel McKeen, and succeeded to larger parishes in Quebec and then London, Ontario. In 1917 he was promoted to a parish in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and became an American citizen. In the mid-1920s Norwood was a member of The Song Fishermen, a literary and social set organized by Halifax, Nova Scotia socialites Andrew and Tully Merkel that included Roberts and his cousin Bliss Carman. Andrew Merkel described Norwood as a "scintillating conversationalist" and a "profound student of mysticism."Burris Devanney,"Kenneth Leslie: A Biographical Introduction," Canadian Poetry: Studies / Documents / Reviews No.05 (Fall/Winter 1979), University of Western Ontario, Web, December 24, 2011 Norwood struck up a close friendship with fellow Song Fisherman Kenneth Leslie, 18 years his junior, and the two poets "operated as a devastatingly successful pair of ladies’ men when they gave poetry readings or attended social functions together." Norwood's mysticism, in particular his belief that he “was merely an instrument trained to give voice to a message that was not necessarily his”, inspired Leslie's long poem, "The Shanachie Man." From 1925 to his death in 1932 Norwood served as rector of St. Bartholemew's Episcopalian Church in New York City. In that capacity he "became ... one of the most renowned preachers in North America." Publications Poetry * Driftwood. N.pl.: n.pr., 1898. * His Lady of the Sonnets. Toronto: McClelland and Stewart, 1915. * The Piper and the Reed. Toronto: McClelland and Stewart, 1917. * The Modernists. Toronto: McClelland and Stewart, 1917. * Bill Boram. New York: Doran, 1921. * Mother and Son. New York: Doran, 1925. * Issa. New York: Scribners, 1931. Drama * The Witch of Endor. Toronto: McClelland, Goodchild and Stewart, 1916. Except where noted, bibliographical information courtesy the University of Toronto. "Notes on Life and Works," Selected Poetry of Robert Winkworth Norwood (1874-1932), Representative Poetry Online, University of Toronto, UToronto.ca, Web, Dec. 10, 2011. See also * List of Canadian poets References External links ;Poems * Selected Poetry of Robert Winkworth Norwood (1874-1932) (3 poems - Darwin, A Song of Workers, Voice of the Twentieth Century) at Representative Poetry Online. * Robert Norwood in ''Canadian Poets (His Lady of the Sonnets II, IV, V, VI, IX, XXIV, XXVIII, Dives in Torment excerpt). Category:1874 births Category:1932 deaths Category:20th-century poets Category:Canadian poets Category:Canadian Anglican priests Category:English-language poets Category:Poets Category:Sonneteers Category:People from New Ross, Nova Scotia Category:Bishop's University alumni Category:University of King's College alumni Category:George Dance articles